Fenwick & West represented Calico, the Google-backed life sciences company led by Arthur D. Levinson Ph.D. (former chairman and CEO of Genentech) and Hal V. Barron, M.D. (former Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Genentech), in a novel scientific collaboration with AbbVie, a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following its separation from Abbott Laboratories. The goal of the collaboration is to enable Calico to establish a world-class research and development facility in the San Francisco Bay Area and combine the complementary strengths of AbbVie and Calico to develop new therapies for age-related diseases. Initially each company will contribute $250 million to fund the collaboration, with a potential for each to contribute an additional $500 million.
The Fenwick team advising Calico included partners Gordon Davidson, Jake Handy, Effie Toshav and Matt Rossiter. Davidson and Rossiter, along with Dawn Belt, David Forst and Jay Cosel represented Dr. Levinson in the initial formation of Calico and its funding by Google over a year ago.